Spurs in for another White Hart Lane humbling when Liverpool visit

Tottenham and Liverpool’s battered squads prepare to face off in north London and despite losing captain Steven Gerrard and striker Daniel Sturridge until January at the earliest, Brendan Rodgers has less to fret about than his opposite number.

Spurs defenders Jan Vertonghen, Younes Kaboul, Vlad Chiriches and Danny Rose could all miss this clash with various fitness problems and the Merseysiders are taken to capitalise on their hosts’ misfortune.

Liverpool to win @ 9/5

The Reds may have a poor recent record away to Spurs, having lost on their last six visits to the Lilywhites’ patch, but a poor record at White Hart Lane didn’t stop West Ham thumping Andre Villas-Boas’ side 3-0 at the start of October.

Tottenham’s top-flight record at home this season is poor and they have thrown away points more often than not when hosting this season in the Premier League.

Only Hull have left Haringey with nothing in Spurs’ last five home games in the division, with Newcastle and the Hammers smashing and grabbing famous victories during that period.

Liverpool may be winless on the road since September, but they have scored nine goals in their last two top-flight fixtures and rate a decent bet to climb back into second place with a victory in north London.

Luis Suarez to score the first goal @ 4/1

After claiming four of his side’s five goals in the home thumping of Norwich – including the opener on the 15-minute mark – the toothy Uruguayan was made to wait until ten minutes from the end of Liverpool’s 4-1 win at home against West Ham to register a strike, amidst a flurry of own goals.

Two late Suarez efforts against the Irons were somewhat exceptional, as 11 of the striker’s 15 Premier League goals – in just ten outings this season – were bagged within the first 55 minutes of their respective matches, with nine coming before the break.

Three of the Ajax man’s recent hits opened the scoring and Suarez can net earliest again here to reclaim his remarkable stat of scoring more times in the top flight than the entire Spurs team this term, despite playing five fewer games.

Roberto Soldado to score at anytime @ 7/4

Having gone five games in all competitions without so much as a penalty goal, a hat-trick against Anzhi Makhachkala in Spurs’ final Europa League group game will have done the Spaniard all kinds of good.

Soldado’s other six Lilywhites strikes have all come in successive games and the 28-year-old had a reputation for streaky scoring at Valencia, with seven of his 30 goals in his last season at the Mestalla coming in a five-match La Liga spell between April and May, to use just one example.

The former Real Madrid youth is clearly a confidence player and with no team able to keep Spurs off the scoresheet in their previous five games, he is the pick to cheer up the Tottenham faithful with his fifth Premier League goal.